- Review Centre
- Sport
- Shooting
- Air Rifles
- RWS Diana 48 - .22 cal
- vinceb's review
Have a picture of RWS Diana 48 - .22 cal?, please send it to us.
| Accuracy | 9.8/10  |
|---|---|
| Handling | 9.2/10 |
| Value for Money | 9.6/10 |
| Reviewer Rating | 9.4/10 |
| Overall Rating | 9.2/10  |
By vinceb
on 11th May 2007
| Accuracy | 10/10 |
|---|---|
| Handling | 9/10 |
| Value for money | 10/10 |
| Overall value | 9/10 |
 vinceb's recommendation | |
Almost everything
Rear sight is sub-par
This was my first stab at a "good" airgun (I don't think my RWS34 counts) after acquiring a variety of Crosman, Gamo, Norica, and Chinese rifles of various sorts.
I'll start off with the bad points. Or rather the bad point. The rear sight could be more rigid, and its rear notch is too small. The sights are non-fiberoptic, but that is a tradeoff - in certain light conditions this is an advantage, in others a disadvantage.
Now that that's out of the way...
Yes, the rifle is a bit on the heavy side.... but not as bad as the Chinese-copy B21/B30. It's kinda like buying a car - don't buy a Navigator and then complain that it's too big! If you don't want a heavy rifle, don't by a heavy rifle...
And it is an excellent rifle. The mechanism cocks very smoothly (with the exception of a little roughness at the end of the cocking stroke), and the firing cycle is simply sweet. Of course, I'm comparing this to a Gamo 440 or a Crosman Quest - but I have tinkered with these other rifles a bit, making delrin guides for them and so on. And if any gun I mod feels and sounds as smooth as this one does during its firing cycle... I'd be downright proud of myself!
The trigger was also a pleasant surprise... no, it's not gonna be as light as a finely adjusted B20/B26, Norica, or AR1000 two-stage mechanism, but for my tastes it's just about perfect. It breaks very cleanly, with just enough effort to make sure you KNOW when it's gonna let go, but not enough to make you jerk the gun.
Power is as advertised, spitting .22 cal Gamo Wadcutters in the 790's to the low 800's. Accuracy is a delight. My test for this is a bit informal - sit at a rickety table, rest my elbow, plink at a soda-can sized target for 10 shots at about 60 yards with the open sights. I then count the number of times I miss. Except this time (shooting with inexpensive Crosman Premier Hollow Points), there were no misses to count. Never, EVER was able to do that with any other rifle. And I'm not a terribly good shot.
Besides the good accuracy, this also demonstrates that this rifle has a lack of hold sensitivity. Certainly, the rifle's heavy-ish weight has something to do with that, as might the smooth firing cycle.
So that about sums it up. Far more refined than my old Chinese B21, although I can't speak about the newer B30. Oh - one last thing - this rifle cost me all of $226, shipping included, directly from Umarex... because it's a refurb without a warranty (except DOA). After seeing and feeling the build quality, this doesn't worry me in the least...
| Helpful | Unhelpful | Agree | Disagree |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Total Respect: +1
Would you like to see a review that's not being listed?
Marlon James
on 11th Nov 2007